Well, Attaturk stole some of my thunder, so I’ll refer you there. I should note that 2021 date is fiction: They are unlikely to even be able to enter that part of #3 by then. And even if they do, I don’t know what they’ll find. That different explosion scattered fuel rod chunks everywhere and a lot of that is probably still in the building.

They are admitting that the melt in #3 is exposed. First, there were no meltdowns. Then there MIGHT have been a meltdown, but the fuel was still in the RPV. Then there might have been meltdowns, it might have got through the RPV, but it’s still in containment. And so on…

Well, it ain’t like we haven’t been predicting this. TEPCO is going to start dumping water directly into the ocean, after diluting it with other water to enable it to meet government standards. And pretending to decontaminate it. Note that their major decontamination plant has had nothing but trouble and it’s efficiency has been questioned. We’d best hope Japan’s fishing industry stops this. They’re powerful, but they’ve never really been tested against DESPERATE nuclear power supporters.

Oddly, we’re starting to see the change of season here too. About a month early. Some of the leaves are already turning. And I’m seeing a lot more deer strikes.

One of the kittens (Trouble) has decided he’s The Mighty Insect Slayer. The problem is that he can’t successfully eat a beetle, and barfs up most of the shell a few minutes later. I cleaned up several spots yesterday. :-(

Hey, Seems really early to me as well….may be also part of the rain forecast, I guess. I had a cat with that bug habit as well; definitely not an attractive feature. When will they ever learn? I know: don’t ask.

Good morning, Firebaggers (/snark). It is g-l-o-o-m-y here, rain is imminent, and the radar shows a big area that supports the forecast of t-storms. No riding my new bicycle today! But I have a to-do list as long as my arm, so probably will be in and out, mostly out. In the rain.

The tractor beams should work on dilbit, provided we have them in time. The fact that the US Navy wants it a lot should mean that it reaches market sooner. I have hopes within a year.

Don’t worry about the snakes. With very few exceptions, they won’t bother you. Here in the US, there’s only a couple snakes that will actually come after you. I think just the cottonmouth and the sidewinder.

So you are ordering off a menu with your cellphone? I’ve done a lot of unusual things with mine but never that! With a web interface on a cellphone you can do just about anything if you can put up with the small screen. I can read FDL, but I have a lot of trouble with small print since my eye surgery, so I don’t usually attempt it.

Was talking about our good police experience with spud, all that we have encountered was helpful and good natured, do not understand.
I made a U-turn in Ohio, outside Cleveland, to get going the right way to get back on the I90 highway, and discovered a police car coming along behind me. He smiled, and waved.

Yes. You are white. I wonder if a brown person would have had the same experience? Jonathan Capehart, sitting in for Kornacki on yesterday’s UP, had quite a segment on that, including a personal mini rant about what it is like to be black and the experiences white people just don’t have. It was very interesting.

They ought to call it an epidemic of cancer. Almost every kid from Tokyo on north shows thyroid nodules. They are seeing disproportionate numbers of broken bones, which they are calling a statistical fluke absolutely not related to strontium uptake.

On my license, I am brown, actually. They’re still nice to me, but then I’m an old lady driving a little puddlejumper.
Saw that segment, and it’s always enlightening to realize that by being born dark pigmented, you come into a whole world I have no idea about.

Yep, when I was in graduate school, I spent alot of time with a Black student. I was amazed at some of the things that made him vigilant and at some of the things…slights,etc….that I witnessed while I was with him….Ive also heard some Judges and DAs making very racist comments….without hesitating.

In for another cuppa, (Monday) I put a few shallow wooden boxes upside down on the compost heap and successfully attract many snakes. The heat of the pile and a dark place to hide. Western Fox and Common Garters are really the only ones I’ve ever had around here. More snakes, fewer mice in the autumn looking for my home for their winter abode.

Ruth, I get several pecks of tomatoes but don’t grow them every year. Only one grower has ripe ones yet, but I’ve arranged trades to get tomatoes and peppers for garlic scapes and some select garlic for seed this year.

My friends just dropped me a line. He says the area (it’s not St L itself, but an adjacent community called Fergusen) is currently cordoned off to all but residents and the area where the problem actually occurred is sealed. Riot police on the streets, but it’s currently quiet.

Lot’s of webcam’s pointing out windows may have kept the police response to the violence to a minimum.

Boxturtle (Police seem to behave when they know they’re being recorded)

Wild Garter snakes are mean and will bite you if you pick them up. However, they domesticate quickly. The garter snake in my window well lets me pick him up without even coiling, he likes the warmth of my hands.

Boxturtle (he did his 8 inch best to tear me apart first time I picked him up)

Good morning.
Here’s a link to a video about the Higgs Boson, narrated by my favorite scientist at Fermilab, Don Lincoln. I’ve had a few e-mail exchanges with him over the years. Don’t let the opening fool you. It’s ultimately funny!

On another note, we watched a film called “The Cameraman: The Life & Work of jack Cardiff”. Released in 2011.

Let me tell you, were I teaching photography, this would be a required viewing. In a nutshell, he was doing, back before talkies and well into Technicolor, in analog, what I and many others today are doing digitally. He invented stitching, although he didn’t call it that.

Painting with light writ large.

In 1967, I took a year long course at Portland State called “The Art of the Film”, where I learned more about what still photography is with respect to motion pictures than anywhere else, until now. This film puts stills and motion pictures back together again. It’s a pity the cinematographers are so unknown as compared to Directors. Without them, the rest is toast. Yet we know about Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Edward Steichen etc, but Jack Cardiff? He leaves many of the best in stills in the dust.

Sometimes, it’s because we don’t understand the grants. Remember the Golden Fleece award? Sen Proxmire gave them for egregious examples of government spending.

He once gave one to a grant to study the mating habits of mosquitoes. Thousands of dollars to see if mosquito enjoy themselves. Except the idea behind it was to prevent them from reproducing by tricking them into mating with a sterile mosquito. The most effective insecticide for mosquitoes is based on this research.

Speaking of research, I go heads up this morning with the cardio surgeon recommended when I had the Angiogram. It’s gonna be interesting. Especially trying to explain why a $150,000 invasive procedure trumps a $5000 non invasive, which has somewhat similar time spans as outcomes 5 to 10 years.

I have to leave soon for the appointment. I hope folks enjoyed the Boson link. Lincoln makes a point that we already know where the majority of mass originates. Shows up in Physics 101! (Well, maybe a bit later!)

Fuku is fucked. And, no, the frozen tunnels were never going to work. Total fuckery.

I LOVE the article on the water tractor beaming – the scientists say they have no idea what’s going on with that – perhaps that’s why no one tried it before. Quite the testimony to creative science-making. We don’t know half of anything!

Mornin’ good firepups! I’m back on a backup computer – slow and much difficulty typing.

Good morning. Well, I AM late. And I’m also sick. Last I took my temperature it was 100.5. I feel like crap. I still had to drive over to the neighbor’s to water her flowers and vegetables. Thank goodness she’s coming home tomorrow evening. It’s been in the low 100′s outside (as well as in my body) so there’s really not an option not to water outside if the plants will flourish instead of wither.

I had set aside 5 days to just have for myself with no activism. And the day it started (Saturday) I woke up sick. Humbug! Writ big!

Coughing not sneezing, but the principle still holds. Now, if only the people on the list (yes, I can create one pronto) will come here to get coughed on. Stand at the front door, get coughed on and leave. That’s the plan.

Please let us know how your heads up (head-to-head) with that cardio surgeon goes. But I am leery of a less common procedure when it is MY body. YMMV. Fortunately I’ve had several surgeries and all have gone extremely well. Nothing cardiac though.

I don’t see anything in Detroit’s announced 10-point plan that collects the incredibly large and long-overdue water bill payments from commercial and industrial accounts ($9.5 million). The biggest deadbeat is the State of Michigan, which owes $5 million!

Had a minimal b’fast at maximal price, it’s the lakeside place that gets tourists in and gives no service, little food. Oh, well, got the lake view. And all the coffee and cream I wanted. Had to go there once anyway.

As to Spanish-ness, while it is actually and means ‘bald’, the family is part Jewish, as is much of the founding generation of S. and C. America. After the inquisition, a lot of ‘conversos’ went to our continent and felt safer, became part of the society instead of being its goats.

Back from the consultation. The doc, a rather brilliant person, not unlike the PhD’s I worked with at Argonne, saw that I was not gung-ho on surgery and, while pointing out the logic of the procedure, given what they know, it also is evident I am stable (Stable Angina), active and low risk. So he suggested I do follow up on a non-invasive technique (EECP), the physician administering it being a colleague, and the drug therapy as well.

Interesting, he stated that, even though he does these surgeries on a daily basis, should he need one, he would be terrified! (His word).

That sounds like the right doctor for you. Hope this works well.
This reminds me of having it advised that I would need surgery to relieve a pinched nerve, but that there was 50% chance of its being a success. And the cost was thousands, so for those odds I declined.

My first Intel assignment brought me in contact with a really old surname from Spain via Mexico, Archuleta. It’s a beautiful name. His great-great Grandfather became Marshal of a small town in N.M called Magdalena. It is rather common, it seems.

I left a post that my computer wouldn’t boot – long process of diagnosis and deciding what to do – and I took a break to do a lot of non-computer stuff and clear my head. Still in transition. It has been awhile. I was not in any mood for it all, so I ‘paced’ myself. :-((

Awww, greenwarrior. I hope you recover quickly AND I would be “calling in sick” to the activism until I felt like going back. It’s kind of what I did with the computer breakdown I am still fixing. Take care – you have earned every bit of any time you need! At one point I was saying to myself: boy, I just need some time off from all these hassles! Solidarity!

Sounds like mostly positive outcome. Do I detect that you still haven’t made up your mind yet? I think Medicare would cover either procedure, no?

Several years ago I had experienced progressively worse numbness in my feet because of a pinched nerve in my spine. Neurosurgeon tried a couple of other things, such as PT, that did no good. He was talking about major back surgery where something would be fused, but then said I’d probably never ride my beloved bicycle after that, so he did (I think) a laminotomy, outpatient surgery, tiny incision, went for a walk with my son around my neighborhood the same day. No numbness. I was so thankful for a surgeon who wasn’t scalpel-happy.

Let’s say a more intelligent prioritizing, along with support from the medical community as to procedures. The EECP is by referral from a cardiologist, who said no. But the surgeon is writing a note to the cardio guy and suggesting a conversation. He also said there is no reason I couldn’t go to the EECP clinic and get a consultation on my own.

I was so afraid it was ANOTHER hard drive crash – I have a big backup but not everything. I couldn’t decide what repair option to go with and was de-motivated, anyway. So, I took a break until one repair shop came back from vacation. Then decided to go another route. Took some time arranging that. And some more time off, trying to keep up with any critical emails at the university internet cafe.

Couldn’t put it off any longer and it’s the motherboard anyway, so that’s good with a week’s wait for a part. Got referred to a terrific repair and second-hand place – now that I know the place is good and the desktop is luggable on the bus, I will go straight there next time. I got a very old laptop for e-mail and it does wifi so I can get shit set up easily at Starbuck’s Coffee (tee hee). I decided I have to have a backup option … this being dead in the water and under the gun is for kids.

I had a bunch of stuff on the go … will have to get back to it, heavy duty, but offline projects are important too! And necessary.

Looking forward to catching up with your website! And the science link you supplied today, Starbuck.

Glad you are back….Ive been having a nightmare with my phone account. 2nd long conversation about bill/with a new Supervisor, etc…all nonsense. She seemed calm and competent, so I hope all is well. To confess, sometimes I really do NOT act my best. Things should not get so complicated. Good to see you….that stuff takes so much time.

I’m supposed to be going for the weekend to a gathering of nuclear activists to see what we can do about not having “interim storage” for the nation’s high level radioactive nuclear waste here in Texas. I’m supposed to leave about noon on Friday. I will take a good look at how I feel Thursday afternoon. If I’m not perfect (hah), I’m not going.

I really feel exhausted from the activism with the Neighborhoods Council. I’ll see out this year, but it’s too much work for me and too little appreciation.

I don’t do well with this crap – and my view of life now is this stuff is nonsense that someone else has decided I *must* attend to in the manner they dictate. Not happening! LOL. Too many sources of stupid guilt – and they aren’t even nice in return! I usually just give up – but I got testy once – when it was more than just me involved, they weren’t giving me information or a way to get information, and I had discovered there was a bug in the system AND even that knowledge could not help me get what I wanted. The real problem was actually a fourth party who was eventually removed from the loop but I have no control over that decision, either.

I had some nonsense last week … one bad decision/change by a service provider led to me being nice when I was being blindsided, ended up running into trouble, and I ended up paying for it. Fine. I won’t be taking that service again.

I hear you. Deeply. Standing with you. I long ago started making sure there was something in it for me that would remain even if the efforts fell apart. As time goes on, that calculation gets stricter and stricter. When I was doing local volunteering and activism some of the disappointments were very harsh – true in business as well, lately. My efforts were good and valuable, but it can’t go on forever if the balance is off. Rest up!

They say it’s easy for these guys – with the part they need. My other option was to transplant the hard drive and any other working parts. Also, by a quirk of history, I am on Windows 7 and it’s alive and kicking still with hardware options still available. So, I got off easy. I don’t want to have to struggle like this again, though. This is the third time in 4 years.

Interesting story earlier about how much all of our lives are dependent on/involved with the ‘puter. Better get used to it and how intimate and involved the helpers are with our lives…better be trustworthy. Pretty hard for those of us who know so little…;)

Oh, absolutely, RevBev. The good news is I see signs that things do work better than they used to. Or easier, anyway. Still, one of my complaints was I had just gotten “up to speed” on Windows 7 so I could make problems go away and get rid of junk. It’s got to be easier for me than for many. And I am figuring out the stuff that comes so easily to BT and Starbuck, with some good advice, and my ancient Minor in Computer Science. Still there are always glitches. And I spent more on this that I needed to. And it would help if I were buying new, top of the line stuff …. also.

Almost everything I do – except vacuuming – LOL – has a connection to the computer!

I might not have lost my hard drive 2 years ago if I had not had bad repair advice. I guess it’s like cars …

So true. His insight (see my #137) always gave my spirit hope. From early days when he appeared on homegrown Canadian talk show tv. CNN is discussing depression – Don Lemon in the anchor chair. Larry King on the phone. Everybody loved the guy.

Msmolly, if you are still reading, I am advised that backpacking or serious hiking be downplayed, but doing things like car camping and non-strenuous chasing a primo spot from which to photograph, have at it.

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